The Wall Street Journal reports on a community meeting last night in which residents discussed how the armory at Bedford Avenue and Union Street in Crown Heights might be repurposed in the future: “Potential projects proposed included a Chelsea Market-style development, a recreation center, a senior center and a small-business incubator for food production.” The city is in the process of taking control of the massive armory from the state following the end of a military instillation in the facility this summer. Many locals and neighborhood leaders are in favor of a renovation of the structure into a fitness facility a la the Park Slope Armory’s recent renovation into a track and gym operated by the Y. The question, of course, is whether there will be funding for an overhaul like the one in Park Slope, which cost $16 million and was funded by the mayor’s office, the City Council and the borough president’s office. The story quotes Marty Markowitz as saying “creative ways of financing” might need to be explored for the Bedford Armory, which we assume means “think public-private if you want to see anything ambitious here.”

Also, email bkarmoryproject@gmail.com if you want to get a suggestion in to the NYU urban planning students who are prepping the report for Marty. It's all completely speculative at this point, of course, but that does mean there's plenty of time for an organized group of people to influence the process.

We were concerned about the status of the Bedford-Atlantic armory so we attended the meeting. Both Marty & Tish made a point of saying that plans were still very much in the works for a community center there, with Tish saying that there is 14 million for this project. Back in Spring 2010 when this was a "hot" topic CBAAR (Coalition for Bedford-Atlantic Armory Reform) was promised a seat at the table when planning for the Armory started. That summer we got a new Commissioner of Homeless Services and we have been waiting to see what happens with the proposed intake center. There will be an update to this effect at Tuesday's Crow Hill meeting

FYI the mission of CBAAR is to reform the Bedford Atlantic Armory with the goal of improving the quality of life for all residents of Crown Heights North. We are committed to the following three positions

1. There will be no intake center at the Bedford Atlantic Armory

2. The Track & Field/Community Center will be developed responsibly with respect to the community that it will serve

3. Conditions and opportunities for the current residents of the Armory will be improved.

btw: while we want to save our organizing/fundraising/community voice for the Bedford Atlantic Armory, the Armory at Union will be serving our community as well and we DO want to be involved in that discussion, if there are people who are interested in that process and you would like to represent the Crow Hill Community please get in touch, Thanks

The space is large enough that it could be divided into two floors. A rent paying store (Target, Walmart, Pathmark, etc) could rent the first floor and the profit could be used to subsidize the second floor (gym, flea market, roller rink, etc).

The Target would only get leases for a maximum of 5 years, that way the city could give them the boot if they didn't hold up their end of the deal.

I definitely wouldn't want a Target or any other big box store there. Even though it has frontage on Bedford, the Armory is located in a residential neighborhood and the influx of cars or people that a big box would bring would really impact those folks living on Union, President and Rodgers. I'd rather see a recreational facility which I think would be less intrusive to the surrounding community. I also question why it can't continue to serve as soundstage and/or rehersal space. There is apparently a fair amount of usage currently, and if that were made permanent, maybe it would attract supporting businesses to the area, plus encourage partnership with MEC.

A high end gym would work, but does the neighborhood have a large enough population that would $upport such a gym? If not, could the gym be a specialized facility that attracted people from all over the city, who would fork out big money to use it on an occasional basis?

The estimates to heat, cool and maintain the facility are around $1m a year. ...this exceeds the resources available from MEC or NYC Parks dept.

We need something that generates some $. I don't think a flea market or a roller rink could pull it off.

I don't know how much the film/concert people paid; they may have gotten a deal from NYS that is no longer possible now that building is owned by NYC.

I think the plan would work if you had multiple uses, similar to the Chelsea Piers setup. If you had a roller rink + bowling alley + gym/fieldhouse + rehersal space you could get multiple tenants in with multiple revenue streams. The problem comes from dedicating the entire facility to one use. But its more than big enough to accommodate multiple uses.

Then you can have MEC paying for access. For example MEC pays an annual flat fee to allow MEC students access to gym facilities. Cheaper than the school building its own space then having to pay O&M on that space. The secret is to build each individual piece so that it is large enough to support the revenue stream it needs to bring in, but not so large that it needs to charge ridiculous amounts of money for use of the space. Building flexible space that can accommodate many options,with one or two specialized premium use spaces(swimming pool, roller rink,etc)might be the ticket.

I liked the term in the article "national rink per person" average. Who keeps statistics like that??? In any event, I would think if an ice rink is built on Bedford that it does better than the old Empire Rollerdrome in its last years.

Part of me suspects they were able to attract investors as a result of them depending upon patronage from wealthy people in NJ, Manhattan and Westchester. ...it would take a really long time to be able to get that investment back just from people who lived in the surrounding area.

Do we need a plan that creates a "destination" like this, or could we create something that is inexpensive enough to be sustained by our rapidly changing neighborhood?

While originally scheduled to occur on January 23rd, the deadline for bidders to submit proposals for the funding available from the Boro Presidents office and NYC EDC, was pushed back to this Thursday (Feb 27th).

There is no exact timeline for when we will learn what the armory will become; the length of the review process depends on the volume and nature of responses received.

"SIGN the PETITION! BEDFORD UNION ARMORY will be handed off to developers with NO community input UNLESS we act NOW! JOIN US to demand the Request for Proposals (RFP) be WITHDRAWN and rewritten to ensure Crown Heights residents and the greater Brooklyn community can benefit from its renovation. Let Boro President Eric Adams, Council Member Laurie Cumbo and our other elected and city officials know we WANT the ARMORY to be of, for, & by the community!!! Sign the petition at

The individual bidders (ie organizations) are free to share what they proposed, but are under no obligation to so. Many bidders try to keep the fact they submitted a bid confidential for a variety of reasons.

The org presenting on June 3 will likely say what they believe they know about the other bidders and their concepts, in order to make their own bid sound superior to those in attendance.

Once the contract is awarded, EDC will likely make a statement about what type of proposals it considered and list the various orgs that applied, in order to show that the process was thorough and fair.

I hope to attend. It would be great if the side windows were not all bricked up or appearing so. a couple small shops on the sides would make this monument more welcoming and less like a stone mausoleum to the community on the side streets..

I hope not - I am definitely attending so hopefully something productive will come of it. I must admit - when I did see the list of all the co-hosts in attendance I thought the same thing may happen. I am curious to see what Steiner Studios has proposed that will benefit both them and the community.

So...did they say anything about what kind of facilities will be available for the public? I'd be totally cool with housing in place of the garage and cool community stuff in the giant drill space! I dream of a pool...the closest pools to CH are in Bed Stuy and it would be so nice to be able to just walk to a pool...

but correct if I am wrong - i was there last night as well (actually very close to you based on your pics). Laurie Cumbo did say that at some point BEFORE the award is made there would be a public meeting where the community could see the different proposals - of course to keep the identity of the developers secret those would not be included in this public forum but nonetheless we would see these six BEFORE the award and that public viewing is supposed to happen next month.

BTW, the idea that EDC would stipulate that the successful bidder would abide by the "demands" of last nights coalition is fanciful. Bidders do not have to do things that were not in the RFP, and the EDC is not going to put itself in a position where it must force two entities to get along.

If the neighborhood wants locals employed at the new armory, they should make sure that locals know about the positions and then are prepared to convince the employer they are best for the job.

yah - the one thing I notice about last night is that while passionate the focus was off - the community needs to ZERO IN with a laser beam on what they want - there were too many other things coming up - senior centers closing - candidates making 2 minute election speeches - Tivoli Towers situation, tenant unions, etc. While I understand all these are important I would recommend to CHCC to table other topics and stay ON POINT with the armory only and deal with the other issues at other times. And there are WAY too many people and organizations involved - the people running the meeting couldn't even keep up. I would have ONE org - TWO at the most become the 'voice' for the armory and become the umbrella for the community. as you correctly stated above, the 'community' is already fighting an uphill battle and to make the best fight possible they need to make some major changes and quickly if they hope to take on the city. Just my two cents based on what I saw and heard last night.

Okay, I have finally realized what I would love to see at the Bedford-Union Armory space, perhaps as the ground floor retail tenant of whatever type of housing ends up on site: a TRADER JOE'S! Everyone likes Trader Joe's. The price points are great, the variety of foods, wines and beers are terrific, and the company treats its employees fairly progressively and well. The one in Carroll Gardens is so crowded...and I see so many people walking around CH and PLG with Trader Joe's bags already, so I think it would be a great success!

I have heard the delay is due to prolonged discussions about how much affordable housing will be built, and that they may separate the operation of that portion of the property from the "domed armory part".

Lots of eyes are on this site, and developer of the former Dunkin Donuts gas station may be taking a wait and see approach.

The heads of local community groups recently met in order to form a united front, and demand that they be consulted.

Rabbi Eli Cohen, the President of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Vaughan Tony from the Friends of Crown Heights, Frank Esquilin, the President of Crow Hill Community Association and Jacqueline Welch of Community Board #9 and Neighborhood Advisory Board #14.

"We all look forward to working together in our Community with the City on transforming the Armory to a community based location!"

If there is affordable housing component, I'd like to it be an affordable co-op (instead of a rental) so that the longtime Crown Heights residents who are in danger of being displaced can gain a foothold in the neighborhood. This way they don't have to worry about getting kicked out when the program expires in 20 or 30 years. Also, when it's time to sell, they will be able to make some money and get a slice of the real estate price appreciation pie for themselves, bringing them into the middle class, and helping to eliminate the need to stay in subsidized housing without an end date.